Pearl Harbor Remembered 70 Years On: Big Pics

Dec. 7, 2011 -- Today marks the 70th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor when Japan bombed the U.S. Pacific Fleet anchored in Hawaii.

The fateful day, known as the "Day of Infamy" was unprovoked and ultimately drew this nation into World War II.

At exactly 7:55 a.m. on Dec. 7, 1941, Japanese torpedoes started ripping open battleships anchored alongside Ford Island. Within two hours, some 20 ships were sunk or damaged and 164 planes destroyed.

Of the 2,400 who died, nearly half were killed in a matter of seconds aboard the giant USS Arizona battleship, when a bomb detonated the ship's munitions depot, igniting a conflagration that burned for three days.

It was the most devastating foreign attack on U.S. soil until September 11, 2001.

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Denouncing "a date which will live in infamy," president Franklin Roosevelt declared war on Japan, leading the United States into World War II at a time when many of his countrymen had hoped to avoid the conflict.

Days later, Germany declared war on the United States. The US entry was to change the course of the conflict.

In Pearl Harbor on Wednesday, just west of Honolulu, a handful of USS Arizona survivors will join other military veterans to salute those who died in the attacks, an annual ceremony made more poignant by the 70th anniversary.

In Washington, where a ceremony is scheduled at the US capital's World War II Memorial, Hawaiian-born President Obama paid tribute on Tuesday to "the more than 3,500 Americans killed or wounded during that deadly attack and ... to the heroes whose courage ensured our nation would recover from this vicious blow.

"As a nation, we look to December 7, 1941, to draw strength from the example set by these patriots and to honor all who have sacrificed for our freedoms."

-- AFP contributed to this report.

Photos: Above, The USS Shaw explodes after being hit by Japanese bombs in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on Dec. 7, 1941, as seen in this silver print taken by a Navy photographer. Credit: Corbis. Below: The battleship USS Arizona sinks into Pearl Harbor after being bombed by Japanese planes. Credit: Corbis